This article is written by Peevesie’s mom, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.

It is almost a month since the cloud burst over our beloved Himalayas. I have been watching the news intently ever since, specially the coverage on how the temple at Kedarnath is now. And I was in a flash back mode again.
Actually we had undertaken the Chardham Yatra in 2008 around May end. At that time there was a lot of drizzle or light showers and the whole place was alive with a lot of greenery. There were these tiny brooks, narrow stretches of road and amazing picturesque beauty in the whole region. And I was amazed at the ability of the ponies (tattu as they are called there) and the doli bearers in negotiating the narrow climb to the Kedar shrine as well as Yamunotri temple. For us passengers on the ponies it felt dizzying to look down into the ravine on the way up. I had then thought that one misstep and we would be down & lost to the world by hundreds of metres.

At that time I had made up my mind to make a repeat trip in a few years and if possible take my parents & mom-in-law along. And suddenly last month the whole place was all over the news channels and now there will be no yatra for a few years and it saddened me to see that only a part of the Shivling exists now.

I was also thinking of what my dad had told me about the glacier in Gangotri. Actually when he had visited Gangotri in 1996/97 the glacier of Gaumukh and Gangotri were at nearly the same place. But when we visited we were told that due to environmental changes Gaumukh had receded around 19 kilometres up.

All these lead me to think of how Raj Kapoor was ahead of his times. In his “Ram Teri Ganga Maili” (1986) itself he had shown the character played by Rajiv Kapoor going to Gangotri to get a “Kamandal” of Gangajal for his grandma because she felt that Ganga anywhere else is “Maili” or contaminated. As a solution for this we see (in the movie) Mandkini guiding Rajiv Kapoor to the glacier further up to get him Gangajal in all its purity.

Then we all know of how a Ganga Action Plan was announced in 1980s to reduce pollution in the river. But all things considered I have a feeling that The Ganga is the most abused river in our country. And the song that I feel like discussing seems to be a cry from Ganga’s heart.

Here is this song from “Ram teri Ganga Maili” (1986). This song is sung Suresh Wadkar.

4 Responses to "Suno to Ganga ye kyaa sunaaye"

Atul ji
The audio link provided by you previously was the right one I think, this audio link(the existing one ) is not an audio track(studio recording), but a LIVE recording of Suresh wadkar at a concert. The previous audio link is still available. I thought of giving the audio link of that here itself, but thought before giving it, I will ask your permission. Any specific reason for deleting the prvious audio link ???

Peevesie’s momji,
Thanks for the post. Your journey brought back few sweet memories of mine. We went to Chaardhaam yatra in June 2010 with my kids. They loved the nature, beauty surrounding the entire valley, thousands of falls, (glacier behind the Kedarnath Shrine was their most fav part ), the serenity…everything they cherished. On our journey back, we stopped at Rishikesh and performed the Ganga aarti at Parmarth Aashram. It was an experience that can’t be described. Then on the way to Delhi, our second stop was Haridwar. Everywhere so much of garbage (plastic bag, wood logs, pictures of Gods, flowers, papers,…….. One place we saw floating dead body also. Kids were heartbroken looking at the condition of Ganga. At Har Ki Pedi, when a person tried to convince my husband to perform aarti for Rs.1000 only, by explaining the significance of Ganga Maa, he was unaware of the “incoming tsunami”😉 My husband, “Is ko tum Maa kehte ho ke samajte ho? Kehne me aur samajne mein bahut bada fark hota hai. Kya apni Maa ki koi aisi haalat/doordasha karta hai? Is ko Maa samjo aur aisa vyowhaar bhi karo. Maa ki puja karke usko ganda to nahin kar sakte. Usko saaf karo, saaf rakho, yahin uski puja hai.” My husband was so sad, that he just could not take it. Poor thing.😦 He thought that NRI hai, to chalta hai and was convinced that by explaining the importance of this puja aur isko karne se pitru ko moksha milta hai, ye NRIs maan jaayenge. After the hard hit of this tsunami, he just left and didn’t come back. We did “Maansi puja” and kids were explained the cause and result of this act by their father. Aaj bhi wo drashya mere saamne aa jaata hai, jab bhi koi Ganga aur iski gandki ki baat karta hai. Sorry, the comment got just lengthy.
And yes, we did see the videos of the devastation caused by this cloud burst in Uttarkhand. It’s painful.

hullo Khyatiben
i am in total agreement with you. it is really heart wrenching to see the state of Ganga. i have seen it as Hooghly (in 1982) and as Bhagirathi Mandakini alaknanda Ganga etc. i was very upset when i saw the state of the Hooghly. i have heard that in Kaashi it is the dirtiest (am yet to visit). then i saw the beauty of the Ganga in Uttarakhand.
but all this devastation was waiting to Happen specially with the footfalls in the region. people have built so many lodges in precarious landings it was a wonder it didn’t happen earlier.. according to my dad all these chardham yatras were previously undertaken by grown ups and only by those who were able to trek up. now all and sundry go there and there is the Helicopter service also which makes it easy for the pilgrims. so that has led to rapid commercialisation and as you rightly said it has become a way of livelihood for the locals to entice us tourists into doing our bit in making the Ganga “Maili”